Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2021; 27(24): 3643-3653
Published online Jun 28, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i24.3643
Stem cell injection for complex anal fistula in Crohn’s disease: A single-center experience
Oliver Schwandner
Oliver Schwandner, Department of Proctology, Krankenhaus Barmherzige Brueder, Regensburg 93049, Germany
Author contributions: Schwandner O performed the research and wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: According to the Ethics Committee of the Bavarian State Chamber of Physicians retrospective reviews of anonymized patient data do not require ethical approval, No. 2021-1022.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the retrospective analysis used anonymized clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author had honoraria from Takeda and Medtronic for invited presentations during advisory board meetings and satellite symposia. Neither funding nor financial support was administered for the current study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Oliver Schwandner, FASCRS, MD, Professor, Department of Proctology, Krankenhaus Barmherzige Brueder, Pruefeninger Str 86, Regensburg 93049, Germany. oliver.schwandner@barmherzige-regensburg.de
Received: January 9, 2021
Peer-review started: January 9, 2021
First decision: January 23, 2021
Revised: March 10, 2021
Accepted: June 4, 2021
Article in press: June 4, 2021
Published online: June 28, 2021
Processing time: 166 Days and 22.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This is a retrospective single-center study on the application of allogenic, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (darvadstrocel) for complex perianal fistula associated with Crohn’s disease, providing structured inclusion and exclusion criteria for 12 patients. The current data demonstrate that the management by local stem cell therapy is safe and effective. However, based on the small patient sample size and the retrospective analysis of routine clinical data, a general conclusion remains limited. Therefore, further prospective controlled studies are mandatory to assess the definite role of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for complex anal fistula in Crohn’s disease.